Sledge (Dino Charge)
Sledge is an alien bounty hunter who comes into conflict with the Dino Charge Rangers due to his obsession with acquiring the Energems. Despite being defeated, he is hinted to return and once more battle the Rangers. With Heckyl out of his way and allied with Snide, he only faces Lord Arcanon's opposition amongst the villains. Character History and Biography Since prehistoric times, Sledge collected asteroids, rare items, and outlaws as both a hobby and a way of life, gathering handsome sums measured in thousands of "Space Bullion" per conquest. He traveled through space onboard his own personal ship with his bride Poisandra, his second-in-command Fury, his mechanic Wrench, and his Vivix and Spikeball crew. During his personal search for the Energems, he came to know that all ten of them were in the possession of Keeper. He then chased Keeper through space, hot on his trail all the way to Earth, and sent Fury to fetch the Energems when Poisandra managed to make him crash land by shotting his craft down with his ship's lasers. However, when Fury returns with their case, they are surprised to find a bomb instead. The bomb throws their ship off-course and releases all his collected asteroids, previously trapped in the ship's electro-net, off to Earth, destroying almost all life on the planet, causing the dinosaurs' extinction, and the Energems to become seemingly lost. Sixty-five million years later, Sledge succeeds at returning to Earth's orbit, and releases Iceage to retrieve the Energems, only for his outlaw to be defeated, after several lost battles, by the newest generation of Power Rangers, who already possess five of the Energems. Sledge later notices Scrapper trying to escape his ship and offers to personally chauffeur him to any galaxy he wants if he can get him an Energem. Despite being successful at finding the location of the Rangers' base, Tyler prevents him from returning to the ship to report his findings. The outlaw ends up defeated, despite Wrench's assistance, and is ultimately destroyed by the Dino Charge Megazord Tri-Stego Formation. Later, Sledge concedes to Fury's suggestion to send Slammer to cage the Rangers, forcefully sending his minion out of the warship to begin the mission immediately. As Poisandra complains about her stay at the ship and the lack of companionship, Wrench unveils his creation, Curio, as a gift to her, after which the happy-go-lucky duo merrily leaves, much to everyone else's relief, since Sledge mainly ordered his creation to get her off his back. Slammer fails due to Koda's interference and is eventually felled by the Dino Charge Megazord: Stego-Raptor Formation. For the next plan, Spellbinder is released to steal a pendant that would allow him to control the Rangers, and is almost thrown into solitary by Wrench and Fury by Sledge's order for seemingly failing. Seeing the assignment was partially successful, Spellbinder is given a second chance and sent down to Earth once more alongside Curio and Wrench. However, the Rangers' new weapon, the Dino Spike, along with their teamwork is enough to counter both his magic and his defensive cape. Once grown, he is dealt with by the Dino Charge Megazord: Para-Raptor Formation, though the pendant is saved by Wrench due to its potential for later use. As Poisandra tries wedding cakes made by Cavity, with Curio and Fury later participating, Sledge orders Cavity to head down and use his decay recipe on the Power Rangers. Pestered by Poisandra and Curio due to his unwillingness to make cakes now, he reveals his true evil self and pushes the heart-shaped general aside after stating his loyalty is to Sledge only. However, Riley and Chase overcome their analytical differences and work together to defeat him. When enlarged, Cavity is beaten by the Dino Charge Megazord's Stego Saber. Once again acting on her own, Poisandra, accompanied by Curio, enlists Wrench's aid to find out the search whereabouts of the Power Rangers and sics Stingrage on them. Fury notifies this to Sledge and he confronts her about it, shifting the situation to her favor and allowing Stingrage to return to Earth once he learns about him stinging the Ankylo Zord, only to have it freed from his control by Shelby, who defeats him singlehandedly. Enlarged, he is overpowered and obliterated by the Dino Charge Megazord: Tri-Ankylo Formation. After stating his feelings for Poisandra, he decides to give her a moment in the spotlight and carry out her first authorized mission. For that end, she takes Curio and Wrench with her and has Duplicon released to battle and fool the Rangers by cloning their appearances with Vivix while the three generals attempt to decipher the recently stolen E-Tracer. Though Duplicon is felled by the Dino Spike while in normal size and destroyed alongside a clone of Fury as a giant, the mission is accomplished. However, Fury arrives at the scene and tries to steal the E-Tracer, only to force the Rangers to destroy it. However, he retrieves the Ptera Charger and leaves, boasting he will be able to find and control the Ptera Zord. Shortly after yet another setback, Wrench analyzes the stolen Ptera Charger, only to find out it is dead, much to Poisandra's enjoyment. At the same time, Sledge calls Fury forth to explain the cause of his attack on his bride. Openly showing his discontent over yet another failure, Sledge takes the Ptera Charger and banishes Fury from the ship, but he takes it back, refusing to give up on his attack, whether with or without Sledge's support, and, along with Wrench's mechanical assistance and Puzzler's handiwork, successfully manages to charge it and use it to summon the Ptera Zord, though it runs out of energy before it can destroy the Dino Charge Megazord due to firing at Puzzler. Impressed by the extent of Fury's loyalty, Sledge welcomes Fury back to the ship and salutes him with applaud, much to Poisandra's chagrin and annoyance, as she is completely ignored by Sledge. The two then leave together to discuss Fury's plan to deal with the Rangers, further frustrating the female general. Sledge then monitors the next battle with the Rangers through the monitor connected to his throne and is furious when the Ptera Charge Megazord is forced to retreat from the battlefield due to lack of energy. He informs Fury he has to fix the problem or otherwise he is of no use to him. With Fury unable to use his energy to further recharge the Ptera Charger, Sledge mobilizes an assault to retrieve the Gold Energem from Prince Phillip III. However, despite the efforts of all four of his generals and their minions, Ivan, the medieval knight who originally bonded with the Gold Energem, successfully separates from Fury and morphs into the Gold Ranger, driving off Sledge's forces. Angered at both the loss of the Energem and the fact there are now six Rangers to deal with, Sledge punishes Fury by having Bones strip his courage, making him cowardly. He is then instructed to do the same to the Rangers. Upon returning to the ship, Bones informs Sledge he only managed to do so with four of them. Enraged, Sledge kicks Bones into a ship and tells him not to dare return until he has thoroughly done the job. However, Ivan and Shelby defeat him and the other heroes regain their courage by remembering the bonds to their friends, giving them the strength to overcome the enlarged Bones by using both of their Megazords against him. Sledge then changes tactics and has Wrench to create a bomb that will destroy Amber Beach, tasking him and Smokescreen to hide it at Tyler's jeep. The two complete the mission, but their clumsiness backfires the plan. Wrench takes the opportunity and distraction of the moment to retreat back to the ship, leaving Smokescreen to deal with the Rangers on his own. Putting their rivalry aside, Ivan and Tyler successfully defeat the outlaw at both normal and giant size. As a last ditch effort, Sledge fires the Magna Beam at the bomb, making it grow, so the Rangers are unable to move it. However, the newly-formed Tri-Stego Ptera formation of the Dino Charge Megazord enables it to fly into outer space, closing in on the ship just as the villains gloat, something which Poisandra and Curio are the first to notice. Despite firing every laser on the ship at the Rangers, they are unable to stop them from tossing the bomb toward the ship. The detonation barely misses the ship, sparing it from being destroyed, but severely damaging it. With Poisandra's approval and consent, she and Curio bear witness as Sledge insults Wrench for the failure. Sledge then approaches Gold Digger, who is trying to escape the ship after ridding himself of one of his Spikeballs, and tells him to stop wasting perfectly good guards and get the job done or else he will be melted into his fiancee's jewelry. Being the one thought the outlaw cannot stand, he complies and descends to Earth with Curio, Wrench and Poisandra to try and blow up the Rangers with his explosive coins. When that fails, he attempts to crush them with his stone slabs, but, upon mastering the Armor X, Chase is able to break through his defenses and defeat him alongside the other Rangers. The Tri-Stego Ptera Megazord is then formed and defeats him. Wrench is then threatened to be tossed into solitary if he fails again, to which he cowers away, much to the satirical delight of both Sledge and Poisandra. Sledge then assigns Memorella and the recently revived Duplicon to retrieve the Energems by infiltrating the Rangers' Halloween party, though not before she reads his memory in order to mock him. When their cover is blown, Sledge enlarges Memorella with the Magna Beam. However, she is defeated by the Ptera Charge Megazord's Pachy Formation, to which he lets out his anger at the airheaded Curio and Duplicon, who abandoned their post to trick or treat. Sledge then witnesses Fury save Poisandra from the tentacle of a monster. Thankful and grateful, Sledge gives Fury another chance to destroy the Dino Charge Rangers and then learns the Graphite Energem has been located and orders its retrieval, sending a swarm of Vivix and Spikeballs to aid Fury and G-BO, a robot owned by Phillip and reprogrammed by Wrench to be evil. However, the prince bonds with the Energem and becomes the Graphite Ranger, felling G-BO while his Pachy Zord destroys two Vivizords. Sledge is furious at the failure and tells Fury his patience is growing thin and will run out, just like his nine lives, alluding his feline nature. Sledge then questions Shearfear after he severs the bond of friendship between Curio and Poisandra and orders him to fix it after he deals with the Dino Charge Rangers. When Wrench is done fixing his scissors after they break during his first battle with the Rangers, Sledge warns him he better not fail or he will be the one who will be snipped. When Shearfear is defeated, Sledge considers punishing Wrench due to his part in the failure, having been tasked along with Curio to ensure the outlaw would succeed, but declines after Fury informs him he has found the Purple Energem. Sledge then sends Meteor to search the Purple Energem on New Zealand and even has Wrench to reanimate Stingrage and Iceage and aid him in battle during his second mission after the latest freed outlaw fails both his search and first assignment, but once the Energem bonds with Albert, he and the other Rangers succeed in working together to defeat the outlaws, after which Albert relinquishes his bond with the Purple Energem, giving it back to Keeper and the Rangers for safekeeping after deciding to stay on New Zealand and defend his home turf. Sledge then agrees to Fury's suggestion of reviving Meteor and has Wrench to do it in order to destroy the Plesio Zord to preempt the Rangers from controlling it and becoming even stronger, even recalling the past experience with the Ptera Zord as an example not to be repeated. However, Meteor is defeated when the Plesio Zord is recharged and turns into its Megazord mode, to which Sledge informs Fury he has had enough with failures from his servants and will finish the Rangers himself. After the Rangers obtained the Purple Energem, Sledge sends Wish Star down to capture it, only for the outlaw to escape upon finding out he would go back to jail after Fury overhears it is unbonded. Sledge is furious upon learning this, as his employer would have paid 40,000 Space Bullion for the outlaw, even remarking he should toss him in a volcano for it. However, upon learning that the Rangers are looking for someone to bond with the Energem, Sledge decides, against the advice and to the shock of Fury and Wrench, to release Heckyl, a mighty convict locked in solitary confinement. The alien agrees to help if they become partners and rule the universe together in case he is successful. However, Fury retrieves the Energem instead, so Sledge blasts him back into his cell with a now Energem-empowered blaster. Though Poisandra, Wrench and Curio most actively lead the attack against Santa Claus, during which they steal his computer and attempt to extract the information necessary to learn the location of the base of the Rangers, Sledge makes a brief, yet somewhat goofy and hilarious, appearance with a Christmas bonnet and chanting the famous rhythm to Santa before ordering the Vivix to fire the Magna Beam at the Spikeball his bride had sent to deal with their enemies, but to no avail. With the acquaintance of the Purple Energem, Sledge prepares to deal with the Rangers, earning time by promising marriage to Poisandra as soon as he acquires one more Energem, something to which she celebrates with Curio. Though he successfully overpowers and defeats the Dino Charge Rangers by paralyzing them, Keeper prevents him from taking all but the Red Energem as the Rangers make their getaway aboard the Ptera Zord, though at the cost of his own defeat and capture. Distraught by having his complete victory foiled, Sledge has Wrench to release Greenzilla. Unbeknownst to them until just after their escape, Kendall infiltrated one of Sledge's transport ships and headed to the main ship alone. The heroes are forced to split their forces to both fight the monster and rescue Kendall and Keeper. As Greenzilla is fought, Kendall's heroism causes her to be chosen as the new Purple Ranger and she, along with Shelby and Keeper, escape from the ship through the Plesio Zord, while Tyler remains on the ship to retrieve his own Energem. After narrowly doing so, he has Sledge to hit the ship's control consoles during their fight and escapes the doomed ship, much to the terror, horror and chagrin of the villains within it, with Fury confirming the worst as they fall from the sky, as they have a small discussion before the ship crashlands and bursts into flames, as Tyler is rescued by Ivan in mid-air. With only Greenzilla left to deal with, the Rangers join their Zords and form the Plesio Charge Megazord Pachy-Rex Formation and easily destroy the outlaw. With this apparent final victory, the Rangers resume their normal civilian lives and bid their goodbyes to one another for the time being. The threat to Earth is not yet over, however, as a new powerful enemy survives the destruction and escapes to enact his own evil agenda. Sledge's temporary absence and the takeover of Heckyl, Snide and Lord Arcanon Sledge was assumed to be gone by everyone, and the other villains, who once served him, were now forced to work under Snide and Heckyl. In one instance, it's revealed that Sledge was actually the one entrusted by Lord Arcanon to assemble an army, hinting he is the employer Sledge mentions occasionally. Wrench confirms it by saying that Arcanon was the only monster Sledge is afraid of, and, that now, he was back to claim all outlaws, including Heckyl and Snide. Arcanon proves he means business by defeating Heckyl and taking over the ship after locking him back into solitary, shocking the other villains, and declaring himself as their new master, before remarking to his generals, Singe and Doomwing, that they must have the Energems. Re-Enter The Bounty Hunter , Curio, Wrench, Fury and Poisandra standing together in unison]] Shortly after Arcanon is ultimately defeated by the Rangers, he falls in the forest and loses hold of the Dark Energem. Just as he is about to grab it, someone puts his foot on it who is revealed to be Sledge who has been alive and well, having survived the crash of his ship and bided his time. Having grown tired of gathering outlaws for Lord Arcanon, Sledge is quick to point out he will no longer listen to him, and installs the Dark Energem into his hand blaster, both surprising and enraging his former employer. Arcanon proudly says that he is alone while they are four but Sledge reveals that he has already reclaimed his position at the villains' leadership, having formed an alliance with Snide, to put the end of Arcanon and reuniting with his generals, Wrench, Fury, Poisandra and Curio, whose combined power is enough to overwhelm Arcanon, Singe and the musician duo opposing them as they are destroyed, something which does not go unnoticed by the recent prison fugitive Heckyl, who is the only witness of the event. Master Plan and End game: Destruction of Earth Sledge, after reuniting with his crew, takes a look at the plight of his ship and demands to know why they have not repaired it while he was away. Poisandra accuses him of abandoning her, slapping him and refusing to listen to him. Sledge explains he barely survived the ship crashing. However, while stumbling through the cells, he found a series of glowing green eggs, which were the progeny of Greenzilla. Getting in contact with Snide and Heckyl, Sledge put in motion the plan of placing these eggs all over the world. He did so personally, momentarily leaving his crew, which allowed Lord Arcanon to take over for a while. Despite the explanation, Poisandra is still angry at him because she spent sleepless nights in his memories while he was enjoying himself. Sledge assures Poisandra that it was not at all enjoyable to him while the flashbacks reveal exactly the opposite, with Sledge delighting in Hawaii, China and especially Japan which reminds him of singing. Snide intervenes and asks him to concentrate on the plan. Sledge asks Wrench the condition of the ship and says that they need their ship back into space. Snide gives Sledge the Dark Energem, which doesn't go unnoticed by James. Sledge is then seen apologizing to Poisandra by promising that they will get married as soon as their ship is back into space, which delights her. He then gets the news that the Rangers are trying to sneak into the ship, which makes him send Badussa to stop them. While the Rangers are busy with Badussa and their stone friends, Sledge helps Wrench in charging the ship with the Dark Energem. Even though Badussa is destroyed by the Rangers, Sledge is successful in getting his ship back into space, which upsets the Rangers. Poisandra suggests him that they should go to Hawaii, China or New York for their honeymoon but Sledge corrects her as none of these places will exist after Sledge's plan is executed. Wrench gives the Dark Energem back to Sledge who then approaches towards the window with Snide to take the look of Earth's destruction. Sledge gives to Poisandra the Dark Energem to his wedding, he says to her that he sends Snide on a sucidal mission agaisnt the Rangers, without knowing that Snide heard after all. The Six Greenzillas that he is put in a different location are destroyed, then he refused to send the Magna Beam to Snide, choking Wrench, and Snide is destroyed by the Rangers and Heckyl. After his wedding with Poisandra, Sledge discovers that Snide has stolen the Dark Energem and sends Fury to retrieve it. Sledge then executes his back up plan to yank Earth out of orbit, having sold the planet to the scrapyards of Kamen 5. However, this plan was foiled when the rangers destroyed the Dark Energem, sucking him and his crew into a black hole in the process, destroying them. The rangers return to the past to save Earth (since it was also sucked into the black hole) and the past version of Sledge notices them. He and Fury go down to Earth to fight the 6 core rangers and Keeper. Fury is destroyed during the battle, which angers Sledge even more. Sledge completely overpowers the rangers and is enlarged by the Magna Beam. However, this is just what Tyler wanted, as Heckyl and the remaining 4 rangers invade his ship and fight Poisandra and Wrench. Heckyl activates the Electro Net which drags Sledge into space, attaching him to the ship. The extra rangers defeat Poisandra and Wrench, and Heckyl destroys them as the entire ship crashes into the sun, ultimately killing Sledge as well. Sledge died saying that would make Keeper pay. As a result, the dinosaurs never went extinct since the astroids were also destroyed with the ship. He was seen in the flashbacks with Wrench during Heximas's story. Personality Though an easily-angered individual, Sledge bears multiple layers to his personality like every being in existence. If anything, the fact that he's easily-angered is one of his greatest flaws to the point it could impede his ability to cooperate with allies and enemies alike. Typically, it wouldn't seem this way, but he values the opinions of his generals. As a means to cope with his anger, he threatens punishment to his generals for the sake of amusement, although he won't hesitate to use true discipline if deemed necessary. While Fury and Wrench are the most trusted generals, there is only one being he is truly in love with, and that is Poisandra. Though not shown often, he is shown to rely on Curio as well. There are times in which Sledge suffers from a crisis, something that could lead to tension between the couple: choosing between love and power. Love represents Poisandra while power represents the Energems. In the end, he'd compromise with himself that having both is possible. He is also shown to be willing to trust Heckyl to lead his crew and be in good, even friendly terms with Snide, who became his partner, and initially a stable relationship with his employer, but eventually growing to be completely inimical to Lord Arcanon. Power Sledge is equal in power to Snide, Heckyl and Lord Arcanon, although with the Dark Energem in Lord Arcanon's clutches, Sledge doesn't stand a chance, hence the reason Sledge feared him. Powers and Abilities *'Enhanced Lifespan:' Similar to all aliens, Sledge has a far longer lifespan than mortal beings, which allows him to live for millions of years, though it is possible the conditions of outer space may slow down his aging process. *'Singing Voice:' It is revealed during The Rangers Rock! Sledge is a decent singer, as he spent some time in Japan on stage. Arsenal and Weaponry *'Armor:' Sledge is mostly covered in armor, which protects his body from attack. He is also able to fly with great speed using a potent jetpack with twin thrusters positioned on the backside of the armor. *'Blaster Gun:' Through his armor, he can unleash a powerful handgun from his right hand capable of taking down any opponent in one shot. Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities *'Aging:' Unlike his shipmates and prisoners, while capable of living longer, his body is subjected to aging, as evidenced when his fighting skills diminished in battle, though he could still overwhelm the Rangers in battle regardless. *'Armor: '''Sledge's armor is ancient and brittle and, at times, would malfunction, which could hinder any opportunity of movement, such as when it is needed to escape from enemy fire. *'Behavior: 'While intelligent, Sledge can be impulsive and impatient, leading him to be uncooperative with plans laid down by his minions, which can result in the failure of a mission and which eventually bring about his downfall and undoing. Notes *Sledge is created exclusively for Power Rangers and has no direct Sentai counterpart to speak of. He is the first villain with this distinction since the Venjix Virus from Power Rangers RPM. *Sledge is at least 65 million years old, making him and his comrades some of the oldest enemies in the franchise, second only to Moltor and Flurious. *Sledge's monsters are captured outlaws held on his ship, much like how the Mutants utilized by Ransik from ''Time Force were prisoners held in cryo-stasis. *Sledge is one of the few villains to actually possess a mate; in his case, Poisandra. *Sledge is the second main villain to be defeated by the destruction of his personal spaceship, following Malkor. **He is the third villain in general to be defeated/"destroyed" along with his ship, following Malkor and Mavro. **He is the second to survive his own ship's explosion to the rangers' surprise, the first being Mavro. *Sledge is the first main villain to have his base successfully attacked three times by his enemies. *Sledge causes his own demise. In Edge of Extinction, he betrays Snide by offering the Dark Energem to Poisandra instead. Sledge then refuses to activate the Magna Beam to grow Snide, who is then destroyed by the Rangers. In the next episode, Sledge and his crew are finally destroyed by a black hole-like warp, created when the Rangers destroy the Dark Energem, along with the Earth itself. *Sledge is the first main villain where two versions of the same character, past and future, are destroyed by the Rangers. See Also (Role) (Role & Final Boss) Category:PR-exclusive Villains Category:Main PR Villains Category:Sledge's Crew Category:Final PR Villains Category:Dino Super Charge Category:Aliens